Hebdomadal Update (May 1, 2019)
"Elections, Elections Everywhere!"
Written by Astrellan
and Unmighty Hezekon
Elections
This week has truly been the week of elections and election announcements. The First Minister elections have taken off followed by the Chief of State elections (in which the Senate chooses the winning candidate) and a host of by-elections for the current Senate, with more possibly to follow.
First Minister Elections
At the time of the publication of this article, there have been 3 tickets for the roles of First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Each with their own lengthy campaign posts, we see Deputy Minister of Interior Cuddles for First Minister, with Associate Justice Vlaska as his deputy; Senator Lloenflys, with Former President Sopo; and incumbent First Minister Rand, with Minister of Radio Pichtonia. Across the largely different ideas and proposals mentioned in each of the posts, we see a few recurring themes. Many candidates are promising better transparency for the First Minister and in some cases their ministries, reporting on what's actually happening within the administration. We also see ideas of the First Minister themselves more involved with ministry work, and having ministers follow suit.
A radio broadcast held by the Ministry of Radio on April 30, hosted by Chief of State Kuramia with guests Aexnidaral and Izzy, discussed the First Minister hopefuls, giving opinions about each platform, their respective pros and cons, and even shared news of a colorfully-titled poll that private news ENN published during the broadcast. The poll showed how well the three platforms ranked among each other according to the citizens of Europeia that responded.
Chief of State Elections
At the time of publication, the Chief of State elections have been uncontested. The only person who is standing is the incumbent Kuramia, who has chosen WA Delegate Aexnidaral to serve as her deputy on her ticket. They are two political heavyweights, especially on the side of Foreign Affairs, and their ticket promises to be a strong one if someone were to challenge them in the elections.
Senate By-Elections
Common-Sense Politics’ recent resignation and the following events have caused a Senate by-election to be scheduled May 5. Prim won the by-election for the seat vacated by Winged Bear, following the latter's removal from office last week, April 22. The upcoming First Minister and Chief of State elections may cause more Senate seats to be emptied, as some Senators will be forced to vacate their seats if they win their respective elections.
Some of the Senate hopefuls (at time of publication) are Discord Moderator Isaris (Izzy), running from a position that emphasizes the role of Europeia’s foreign presentation; recently-resigned Deputy Chief of State Pierce, who comes with a hope to increase transparency in the government; and relative newcomer UnitedPeoplesOfCentrism, who runs under a premise of youthful reinvigoration.
As there are certain important Senate decisions in the future, such as the ongoing Deputy Devolution amendment, the Criminal Code review, and the Chief of State elections, the decision of voting for a new senator is not one to be taken lightly.
New Speaker of the Senate
Originally speaker-less with CSP's resignation and with a heavy workload yet to be completed, the Senate has recently unanimously confirmed 12-time-Senator and 6-time-Speaker Aexnidaral for the position. Upon appointment, he announced Senator Prim, who recently won the by-election as mentioned above, to be Deputy Speaker. However, there remains a possibility that Aexnidaral may be forced to vacate his seat on the Senate if his ticket with Chief-of-State candidate Kuramia wins the election -- which seems likely at this moment as the election is uncontested. Still, with expected strong leadership coming from Aex, we may see the backlog of Senate discussions resolved before more by-elections or Speakership nominations are needed.
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